China-Turkmenistan Gas Deal
May Shift Asia Alignment

By

Paul Lupinacci

Updated July 18, 2007 12:01 a.m. ET

China, the world's second-biggest energy consumer after the U.S., is trying to shift its reliance away from coal -- which pollutes heavily -- to relatively cleaner natural gas for power and heating. A deal reached with Turkmenistan to produce and import natural gas from this Central Asian republic will go a long way to achieving those ends.

For Turkmenistan, as Terence Poon and Shai Oster report, the agreement offers an opportunity to break free from Russia's influence and the occasional disruptions to its natural-gas...